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China drought withers crops, energy, tourism
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-11-04 16:54
A drought in southern China has withered crops, emptied
reservoirs, cut power supplies and is threatening tourism, local officials said
on Thursday.
Severe drought has
hit east China's Anhui Province as some rivers in the province dried up.
[newsphoto] |
In the hardest-hit region of Guangxi, where some officials have labelled the
drought the worst in 50 years, 1,100 reservoirs have gone dry and hydropower
generation cut dramatically.
China's arid north suffers regular droughts, but the south's problem every
year is usually flooding following typhoons tearing in from the South China Sea.
"We haven't had a drop of rain for three months," said one anti-drought
official in Guangxi.
He said people in the area were trying everything to get water -- seeding
clouds, digging wells and diverting mountain springs -- but still 2.57 million
people were finding it difficult to get enough to drink.
"The power supply has developed to a whole-day shortage from a peak-time
shortage," the Guangxi government said in a statement.
The drought had destroyed 124,600 hectares of crops, mainly rice and
sugarcane.
"Farmers in some of the hardest-hit villages will not harvest enough grain to
feed even themselves," said the statement.
The official said authorities in Guilin, one of China's major tourism spots,
were trying to fill the scenic Lijiang river with water from other sources to
help leisure boats remain afloat.
In neighbouring Guangdong, local officials said the drought had damaged
late-season rice, sugarcane and vegetables, but there had been no blackouts so
far.
The agriculture ministry said some 3.3 million hectares
of crops had been damaged in Guangxi, Guangdong, Anhui and Hunan and drought had
spread to northern provinces.
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